"Carl! How the hell did they get the gate open!?" Nergal shouted, before getting punched.

"That's for making everyone worry over nothing, I knew my kids could bring me back and you would have figured it out to if you stopped and thought about it for even a second. Did you forget that my daughter has been producing paradox energy to the level of Loki dying multiplied with me boosting his divinity with ever heartbeat?"

Nergal looked at Raziel, who turned and jumped onto her dad to hide from his look. "Why would my creator lie to me though? Was I truly just played for a fool my entire life?"

"No, you merely proved yourself one. What did your creator actually say?"

"I was simply created with the knowledge that if anything passed through the gate, everything would cease to be as it is."

"That doesn't sound like the end of everything to me, more like something would happen to change everything. Maybe a prophecy more than a warning, having you keep it safe and secret, could simply have been a means to ensure the timeline wasn't disturbed or to stop people them from leaving whilst energy built up."

Nergal considered Carl's words, then shook it off and started speaking the words to seal the gate. Kitsunoko listened intently and by the time he had finished, she had a smug look on her face like she had memorised it and Carl made a point to tell her not to go opening it just to speak to long dead immortals.

When that was done, Carl raised the question about Nergal's missing arm and maintained intense eye-contact with Tiamutael the whole time. Which confused everyone as it didn't change when Nergal said it was taken by that one.

"Tiamutael, I think we need to have aunt Lydia teach you some better coping mechanisms."

"...Like I said, it was that one, apart from the breath attack, nothing he did could have injured me and that was interrupted."

"Yeah, that just means he went for the kill."

"He let you die first."

"Are you going to kill your mums when they're done with me? No. Buddy, you have to know that we're all responsible for my own actions, you can't hold someone else responsible for what I choose to do."

"Why did you choose to do it though? Did you not care about leaving us?"

"You definitely take after me, no wonder you're a mummys' boy. I did it because I had absolute faith you three could get me out of there. What I didn't expect, was that you weren't watching and leaving your big sister to be the responsible one."

"That one scares me. He's too powerful, I don't think I could ever get that powerful."

Hearing his son say that about himself, was both amusing and suddenly made everything click into place regarding his purpose in doing everything. "Tiamutael, we're going to face your fear together, okay? I'm going to call him here and I need you to be brave and not look away."

Tiamutael went pale, but nodded and as he did, Carl called him.

The moment he arrived, they all felt the usual tone of dread, but then Carl gritted his teeth and placed a hand on Tiamutael's shoulder until he worked up the courage to look.

The instant he did, he got mad again and rather than build up a full breath attack, he just launched a fireball which his future self grabbed and crushed out of existence. "I really was a brat. Hey dad, sorry for everything. Nergal, you're a jerk and I never really take a liking to you. Ki-ko, don't even think about going back to that realm to find Ginrei and Raziel, sorry to say you're going to be our moral compass for quite a while."

"Older or not, if you don't tell me what you're up to I'll tan your hide and ground you."

"Trust me, I need this. When we learn how to travel through time, we all get arrogant, so make a point to do this and make sure they understand how powerful we are. This little demonstration is all we needed to not make something much worse happen, it also gives me time to grow up a bit for the next stage in my life."

"Well, I won't pry, but you better heal Nergal and clear out before your sister uses recollection on you."

"Ugh, fine. One last thing, you'll find Aunt Amaterasu in the same realm she killed Tsukuyomi, but only if you move quickly."

"What about you? You realise you're risking changing the future."

"I'm not risking anything Dad, I can see all timelines simultaneously and everything will work out exactly as it did before. I'm going to keep Margo as contained as possible. You should know that time is running out though. He'll make a move come the new year."

"Kid I swear if you grow into the kind of son who tells me about great TV shows by spoiling the ends..."

"No. I grew out of that habit, now I just tell Gillian about them and let him do it."

"Jus-"

"He's already got the arm back, love you Dad, thanks for raising us. If it weren't for you and Mums we would have been worse than Gilgamesh, Villain Margo and the rest combined. Aunt Sis, thank you for not telling him, knew he wouldn't read the book with how much hate he had for her."

"No worries, but you better be ready for an earful in the future, because you have a lot of explaining to do. Don't think I missed the point either, you better do the right thing."

"Right, anyway, I'll be off and leave you guys to it." Strange as it was, Carl was reluctant to let him go in the end. Hearing his son talk about wanting to mature a bit for the next stage of life was pretty telling and Carl had a good idea what he was preparing for.

"I really want to know who he's shacking up with."

"I can tell you, you reminded me that I can read minds."

"Ki-ko, under no circumstances can you talk about it."

"Fine all I'll say is it's less "who he's" and more "who isn't he"..." Ki-ko watched the eyes burning holes into her little brother for a second, then burst into laughter. "...Just joking, he's very much smitten with the lucky lady, more concerned about how I keep all those tails so neat."

"Something tells me you don't and me and your mums do."

When they were all done chatting, they returned so Carl could face the music, but to his surprise they were all pretty calm. He actually found it a little unsettling at first, but then he remembered the night that they decided to move past the way they used to be and he took their calmly structured arguments at face value.

It was a long talk, one which felt strange to them all, the chaotic conversations they usually had were as messy as the current state of the things. Now though, they were rational. Highly charged and emotional, but also fair and rational. Reflecting how they wanted things to be, rather than how they were.

The revelation of that one being Tiamutael's future self was seemingly the most important matter of discussion for everyone.

Tiamat and Bahamut, who had apparently been in the middle of a rather large fight, apparently came face-to-face with him and told they were being a distraction. Surprisingly though, they saw it more as an ego buff, communising his power under the potential of dragons.

Lillim simply made reference to a time he apparently visited Samael after incursion day, stating his displeasure at watching the demonic horde's slaughter, a discussion which became heated upon Samael's argument that it limited suffering.

"The aura clash that followed left the castle in tatters and who might I ask, do you assume had to repair the damn thing?"

"I'll be sure to apologise when I do it Grandma, but sounds like Samael deserved a scolding."

"True. I suppose I should simply be proud that my great-grandson is on par with a ten-st-"

"Actually Grandma, I saw in his memories that he was holding back quite a bit, he knew Samael knew it too." Kitsunoko's poorly thought out interruption saw her ears pinched one by each mother.

"Do we need to give you the same privacy conversation we gave Tiamutael?" Though Kyubi asked the question, neither she nor Klaire waited for a confirmation and flowed into it immediately.

"...More importantly, Carl. What is our immediate move, can we assume your trip is done?"

"No, it isn't. We have a couple of stops that we need to visit, with another one that is for Nergal and Gaia. In the meantime, how have things been going with the contracting and new member induction?"

"Good. Why do you ask though?" Lillim asked, with a good idea of where things were heading.

"The date is..." Carl looked to Leanna who had a slate to hand.

"It's the twenty-fifth of November. You don't need a slate to see it, Carl. You are by far the most forgettable immortal I know."

"Right, so let's say we have human society under control by the fifteenth, which requires Amaterasu to be taken care of.

I need Dracula under contract before I restore his power and bind him to Grandma. He's Samael's creation, so they can both atone under the new ten-star of demonkind.

Then we're going to deal with the mad prophet I heard about.

Then I'm going to deal with Mobius, I owe that jerk for splitting up Sis and her mother.

Then Pandora, who can join the variants in her atonement.

Then I'm going to have a father-son chat with Tiamutael.

Then I'm going to deal with Margo.

Then we celebrate Gillian and Scylla's wedding..."

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